Provided are ambulation devices and related methods that include distance tracking features for assessing the mobility of recovering medical patients. Early and safe ambulation is critical to patient recovery, and methods to encourage, measure and assess patient ambulation are an important aspect with respect to evolving healthcare protocols. A convenient means of measuring patient mobility, such as by the distance, speed, and regularity with which a patient is able to walk after having a medical procedure is desired.
U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0221928 describes a system for monitoring the activity of a medical patient. That system employs a device worn by the patient that communicates with specially located receivers when the patient is nearby. Similarly, U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0035427 discloses a device for telemetrically monitoring a patient. However, those devices are not built into or attached to a mobility assistance device, and they do not directly measure distance traveled. Furthermore, systems that must be worn by the patient are susceptible to misuse and/or being misplaced so that the reliability of any patient mobility assessment is called into question.
U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0290217 describes a global positioning system (GPS) device that is worn by a subject outside of a hospital setting for monitoring daily activity and physical condition, including distance walked. However, that device is not built into or attached to a mobility assistance device used by a patient undergoing rehabilitation in a medical setting.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,041,941, 6,980,111, and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2014/0367540 similarly describes devices and methods for locating medical items. However, those systems do not measure the distance traveled of the equipment or patients using them.
There is a need in the art for a mobility assistance apparatus that can be used to directly measure and track the ambulation of a recovering patient in a hospital or medical recovery setting in a safe, reliable and automated manner that is unobtrusive to the goal of patient ambulation.